Practice 4

(part 4 of 8 from the article How to Practice)

How should we practice?

Practice does not mean sitting in front of the piano poking away until a 30 minute timer goes off.  Practice does not mean playing as quickly as possible through a list of pieces and triumphantly shouting “All done!”  Practice means using the steps outlined in the lesson to make progress toward specific goals.  Hopefully most of the practice sheets have all these steps and goals well outlined!  The “how” is the part of practice where parents are most important, especially for kids younger than 9 or 10.  The parent helps the student listen to his own performance and evaluate if his attempt is moving toward the goal.  When you practice with your student, try your hardest NOT to play the piece from the beginning to the end right off the bat.  This usually ends up practicing lots of mistakes, not lots of success!  Start directly at the part to be worked on—yes, usually that is in the middle of the song.  Work the goal directly where it occurs.  Play the measures or section several times, each time reminding yourself and the student verbally of what the goal is.  After success has been achieved, repeat the section until success happens at least 3 times in a row.  Finally, if appropriate, go back to the previous section or the beginning of the piece and play the whole thing with the goal in mind.